9.28.2010

With a bit of chalk


This week on I Heart Faces it's all about chalk. I had a photo that immediately came to mind when I saw the title of this challenge. In a weekend full of family activity we went to my dad's for a cookout. As always, it was a blast. All of the kids were running everywhere keeping the adults in constant check. This photo captures a "slow-down" period with my son and one of his  big cousins. I love the spiderman face tattoo and the faces they drew on their chalk outline people too!

Happy Tuesday and Happy I Heart Faces Challenge day!





9.24.2010

That's right, it's time

I am making time again to stop in and say hello. I am coming live to you today from the home studio now located — on my treadmill. My DH surprised me last night with a new "desk." It's now situated on my treadmill so I can type as I walk. Of course I can't go too fast while typing, but it helps when trying to do my tworkout or watch Biggest Loser and tweet and walk. Or while just watching Glee over and over again on Hulu. I love it! Hoping it get's lots of use while working out during the cold winter season.

OK - short and sweet. I know, really short though, i am squeezing this in before picking my son up from daycare, so it's time to shower and go get the weekend started. At least now i can say I burned a few (200) calories beforehand!

Have a great weekend!

9.12.2010

End of Summer Veggie Roundup

Today was a blah kind of day outside, and with the rain washing out our plans to head out to Alexandria for our anniversary, we sat and sat. I couldn't just sit around any longer so decided to finish canning some hot peppers.

Thursday night was my first canning session ever. I hope they turn out and we use them. There are a TON! They are hot banana peppers and used a basic pickling recipe. It was simple enough, and since it was so easy, I had the in-laws send more out with my husband this weekend and canned three more jars. Five in total. I also make a sausage stuffed hot pepper recipe last night with them that was so good I used the rest of the stuffing today in a few more.

I just sat down from making a batch of zucchini bread. I have enough zucchini to make about 10 batches I think. I am not sure that is an exaggeration either. It takes 3 cups of grated zucchini per 2 loaves and the one zucchini I grated yielded almost 8 cups. Then I have 5 more to use. The loaves just came out of the oven and it has a great flavor. I altered an altered version of a cooking light version. I recommend it! I have been using the recipe a while, but the altered version turned out perfect. I think I will make one more batch of bread and freeze the loaves, then try out a casserole and a lasagna. That should do it, but will I find the time? That remains to be seen,

I am going to take a few shots of my peppers and my bread tomorrow! I will get back to posting photos here soon - I promise!

9.08.2010

It's Been Too Long

I've been completely out of touch and in more ways than just the blogging kind.

I have been feeling physically out of it too. Just last week I finally got the reason why. I got my diagnosis. Not one of the bad kind, just more detailed than in the past. I was given the diagnosis that I have Hashimoto's. Yep, but I already had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism so the treatment is now to increase the meds. Hopefully that will reduce the fact that my body is now fighting itself. Well, that is how I explain it.

The results so far? The increased meds are doing the trick with the energy. Let's just hope in 6 weeks the number of antibodies goes down and things settle down. It does explain why my energy goes up and down in spurts. Apparently that is how this whole thing works. Does anyone take care of their thyroid naturally? I really think that I would prefer to increase the health of my thyroid that way. I have been trying to get more info and put a book on hold at the library that I am hoping has more information than most of what I have found so far.

This past weekend was really fun, for the most part. It was really COLD. BRReath seeing cold. Not so fun when you are camping in a tent!! Thank goodness for family and long extension cords. Yep, camping with an electric hookup saved the day. The in-laws had a small space heater and that kept the tent nice and toasty. Well, and probably encouraged the daddy long legs.

That was something my son just did not enjoy. It made for a tough night getting him to go to bed. Here how it all progressed ... as I was telling my son a story. Being the attentive kid he is, Big E saw one daddy long leg on the side of the tent. hmmm. but then I saw one more Of course I didn't tell him that. I attempted to get the one he saw but it ran (what else). Here's where the story gets interesting. While I am trying to get said spider out the door, one decided to run right over my son's sleeping bag. He screams like crazy and so I work to get it out the door. Which would be nice, but no, the story is not over cause the second one goes scampering over him just as I am attempting to settle him down, but he is in full force bloody murder at this point. I summon my DH away from the fire to help me get the second one out the door. Problem solved right? NOPE. Not at all. I get the Big E sitting down, since we all know he isn't laying down, cause he is kind of shaking all over. Well, I decide at this point to pull out the movie and see if I can get him to watch it and calm down. Over saunters spider number 3. I maneuver the small screen he is engaged in to keep his eyes on the video and not on the big spider sitting on my blanket now. I threw a pillow at him and still the thing is relentless. It's like a mini invasion going on now, cause I have spider number 4 crawl up on my right side. UM - really? So, I swat at it and tell my son that it is a mosquito. Yeah, well, that is about the point I decided that we were just not going to be able to calm the kid down and took him out by the fire to help him fall asleep. That was the only way I could see him going to sleep. There were more, but he didn't see them. THANK GOODNESS! At naptime the next day I had to have my DH sneak another one past him so he would not see it, I am certain there would be no nap otherwise!

Well, right now is the first time I have sat down and done nothing. Okay, not nothing, but nothing but kind of watch a movie, while blogging. It's a movie I have seen before. One I wouldn't exactly say I love, but one that I LOVED the showtime series it was made from. Dead Like Me. I just love how they say what they think, and how bizarre it is. It is so weird it is funny.

On that note, it is time to end this overdue post. I am going to get things back in order soon. Somehow!